There is a critical need for assistive devices to aid individuals who have lost their ability, either through injury or disease, to interact with their environment. Hundreds of thousands of individuals in the US and around the world are living with a debilitating spinal cord injury (SCI), and tens of thousands of new cases are occurring each year. These injuries occur in the prime of life for most individuals, and losing of the ability to interact with their environment can be devastating. There is also a need for these assistive devices among individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke or other trauma that results in quadriplegia or locked-in syndrome. Additionally, individuals with diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis, Lesch Nyhan Syndrome, Parkinson's Disease, cerebral palsy, and even arthritis, have a need for these types of devices.
Many technologies have been developed and implemented to assist these individuals, including “sip and puff” instruments, eye movement tracking, electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors, tongue pressure sensors, and others. These solutions have inherent limitations, particularly that they usurp other body systems, can not be controlled with precision, and require cumbersome external equipment.
While it has been previously proposed e.g. by Joshi et al U.S. pending application Ser. No. 12/163,919 to sense EMG signals from a muscle on the head, Joshi constructs his device to reduce signal interference in order to utilize impulses from a single muscle. The present invention, however, has nothing to do with capturing multiple channels of output from a single muscle. Moreover, the way the electrodes are placed for sensing in the present invention is far different from the teachings of Joshi and includes the placement of electrodes bilaterally as well as in multiple positions on each side of the head to capture bilateral signals for utilizing the vestigial ability of the periauricular nervous system to point in space.
It is one general object of the present invention to provide individuals with a control system that lets them interact with their environment without the limitations inherent in the currently available technologies.
Another more specific object of the invention is to use signals from existing vestigial nerves for controlling an output device without causing harm to the patient due to a loss of the functionality in the nerve that is utilized.
Another object of the invention is to provide a control system of the type described that is minimally invasive and yet fully capable of wide ranging control capability without a deleterious effect to the operation of other sensory or motor systems that may still be uninjured and remain in use by a patient.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system of the type described that can be used by able-bodied persons for a variety of purposes in relation to disability, strength enhancement, sensor enhancement, computer or cursor manipulation, gaming devices, including video games, the operation of other kinds of mechanical devices, such as appliances, vehicles, robotic devices and other equipment in a hands-free manner.
It is still another object of the invention to make possible the sensing of signals derived from the vestigial periauricular nerves or muscles without requiring surgery.
These and other more detailed and specific objects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.